The Ensigns of Command
'' |image= |series= |production=40273-149 |producer(s)= |story= |script=Melinda M. Snodgrass |director=Cliff Bole |imdbref=tt0708796 |guests=Eileen Seeley as Ard'rian McKenzie, Mark L. Taylor as Haritath, Richard Allen as Kentor, Colm Meaney as Miles O'Brien, Mart McChesney as Sheliak, Christopher Collins as Sheliak voice, Grainger Hines as Gosheven(uncredited) |previous_production=Shades of Gray |next_production=Evolution |episode=TNG C02 |airdate=30 September 1989 |previous_release=Evolution |next_release=The Survivors |story_date(s)=Stardate 43133.3 |previous_story=Evolution |next_story=The Survivors }} =Summary= The Enterprise receives an automated message from the enigmatic Sheliak: Remove the humans on planet Tau Cygni V in four days. The Sheliak are a non-humanoid species with little regard for human life and would exterminate any humans found in their path. Their message is only due to their obligation under a treaty with the Federation to notify their intention to colonize before taking further action. There is no record of a Federation colony ship being sent there as it contains levels of hyperonic radiation lethal to humans, which doesn't explain why the Sheliak indicate otherwise. The Enterprise arrives in the system to find what looks to be a small colony on the surface. The android Second Officer, Lt. Cmdr. Data, takes a shuttlecraft to the planet to coordinate the evacuation as he is the only crewmember unaffected by the radiation. Once he arrives, he finds that the sensor readings were incorrect. He is informed by local greeters that it is a colony of 15,253 people, the descendants of the wayward colony ship Artemis launched 92 years prior. The colonists' ancestors found a means to survive within the radiation but initially suffered heavy loss of life before an effective defense was found. Although it would normally be a simple matter of beaming the colonists off the planet, hyperonic radiation renders the transporters useless. Because of this, a complete evacuation of the planet would take an estimated three weeks, and the Sheliak are not willing to give the Federation any extra time beyond the three days required by the treaty. While on the planet, Data is greeted by a colonist named Ard'rian. She expresses interest in Data as an android and invites Data to her home, where they discuss ways to persuade the colonists to evacuate. Ard'rian kisses Data. When Data explains to the colonists that they should evacuate their world before its imminent destruction, the colonists refuse to leave, insisting they will protect themselves by fighting. With time running out, Picard and the Enterprise crew begin poring through the 500,000-word treaty in the hopes of finding something they can use to their advantage. Data reasons that if persuasion cannot work, then intimidation and a show of force should be his next option. Modifying his phaser to work in the hyperonic atmosphere, he raids the colonists' aqueduct to prove they are helpless to defend their livelihood. When Data easily overpowers the colonists guarding the aqueduct, he points out that if they can't defend against a single person with a phaser, then they aren't capable of fighting the Sheliak. Data then destroys the aqueduct system that is vital to the colony's survival, convincing the colonists to evacuate the world. Back on the Enterprise, Picard exploits a loophole in the treaty. He invokes a section calling for third-party arbitration to resolve the dispute and names as arbitrators the Grizzelas, a species that is in its hibernation cycle for another six months. Picard offers the Sheliak a choice: wait 6 months for the Grizzelas to come out of hibernation, or give the Federation three weeks to evacuate the colony. The Sheliak give the Federation the three weeks. Just as Data is about to leave the colony in his shuttle, Ard'rian comes to say goodbye. She asks Data if he has any feeling over what has just happened, and Data says no. He then kisses Ard'rian. Aside from the kiss, Data leaves Ard'rian in a somewhat cold manner and returns to the Enterprise. Aboard the Enterprise, Picard comments on Data's performance at a classical concert before his mission with the human colonists. Picard tells Data he performed with feeling, and Data reminds Picard that he has no feeling. Picard says that this is hard to believe. =Errors and Explanations= Equipment Oddities # The results of the transporter tests conducted while the ship is travelling at warp matching the results gained while beaming the test object to and from the colony via the hyperonic radiation. They could be using a holodeck to simulate the effects of the radiation. Internet Movie Database Plot holes # While discussing with the captain how they are going to negotiate a compromise with the Sheliak, Troi tells Picard that the Federation sent 372 legal experts to hammer out the original treaty. She then asks Picard, "What do we have?" To which Picard answers, "Thee and me." There are over 1,000 people on board the Enterprise. It is difficult to believe that there isn't anyone else on board that can handle legal matters, and that all Picard can count on for something this critical is himself and a psychologist. JAG officers aren't routinely assigned to front line vessels. # On board the Enterprise and with all of the ship's resources at their disposal, Laforge and O'Brien are unable to get the transporters to work through the hyperonic radiation enveloping the planet below. However, Data manages to fix his phaser to counteract the randomizing effect of the radiation using just a chip from his arm. The transporter is significantly more complex than a hand phaser! Nit Central # Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Tuesday, July 10, 2001 - 1:58 am: 93 years earlier the Artemis, bound for Septimus Minor, goes off course because of a navigational error and just manages to crash land on Tau Cygna. So far, so good. However, the colony's leader, Goshoven, refers to this world as Tau Cygna several times and nothing is ever said about the Artemis losing communication. So you are the captain of a starship which goes off course and you know the name of the star whose planet you are soon going to crash into. Don't you think that it might be a smart idea to send a message letting someone know where you are? And even if the communication equipment wasn't working, why didn't Starfleet send a search party? The original colonists may have indicated that they wished to be left alone when they left. # When it was mentioned that the evacuation ship had dedicated shuttle pilots, I thought it sounded a little like a suicide mission since hyperonic radiation is supposedly fatal. Will Starfleet equip the pilots with radiation suits or just have coffins standing by? They may used shuttles that have sealed cockpits. # The colony seems to be built in a rather lifeless area and a big deal is made about the aqueduct bringing water to them. All of this begs the question, why did those pinheads build a city in the desert instead of building it near a good source of water? It was probably the only suitable area within reach of the crash site. # In The Big Goodbye, Data was familiar with what the Jarada would do, so why did he need to ask Riker how the Sheliak might react? Apart for the treaty negoations, contact with the Sheliak has been non-existant. # Picard wants to talk to the Sheliak homeworld, Worf says, "Their home world is quite distant." However Sheliak is another name for the star Beta Lyrae, 800 to 1,300 light years away. The world with humans orbits Tau Cygna, which is a pretty similar name to a star called Tau Cygni (66 to 75 light years away), and as sloppy as Star Trek is with names it could be the same star. If Tau Cygna is Tau Cygni then the approximate distance to Sheliak (Beta Lyrae) is 1,131 to 1,838 light years. Realatively speaking, that could be regarded as quite distant. # Why do Geordi and O'Brien need to work on fixing the transporter to work through hyperonic radiation? The Sheliak have transporters and they must be able to work in hyperonic radiation since the Sheliak can live in the stuff? Use of Sheliak technology by other races may not be permitted under the terms of the treaty. # Why not let Flaherty of the Aries take a crack at trying to understand the Sheliak language? In The Icarus Factor Picard said he knew at least 40 languages and had a gift for understanding. SP on Friday, July 13, 2001 - 8:17 am: It's possible that the Aries was still on its long-distance mission, and would be too far away to help. Merat on Friday, July 13, 2001 - 1:47 pm: Or perhaps he did and didn't succeed. They can't all be Daniel Jackson, you know. # John A. Lang on Sunday, July 14, 2002 - 12:17 pm: Apparently "DESTROY" has lost it's meaning. Data informs the girl that he will destroy the aquaduct. He does so by firing at it...the energy beam follows the pipeline up the mountain, thereby neutralizing it. SO...why is it when Data is chit-chatting with the leader afterwards, there is still water coming down the stairs and into the fountain? Magic waters perhaps? There may have been water left in the area above the stairs. # TJFleming on Monday, May 12, 2003 - 7:49 am: Picard invokes the arbitration clause in the treaty, but there is no arbitrable issue. The treaty is clear and unambiguous that the Sheliak may remove alien species at their discretion, and Picard offers no countervailing provision. The Corporate could use a corporate lawyer to avoid getting further bamboozled. There is an arbitrable issue - The Sheliak agreeing to delay their colonisation until the humans have been removed and relocated. =Notes= =Sources= Category:Episodes Category:The Next Generation